Tony Kurdzuk/The Star-LedgerHandcuffed, strapped to a gurney and using oxygen, accused serial killer Robert Zarinsky is charged with the 1968 murder of Jane Durrua in Monmouth County Superior Court.

It's been four decades since Jane Durrua's body was found beside railroad tracks in Middletown. The 13-year-old had been beaten and raped in a case that stumped investigators.

But Durrua was never forgotten.

Today, suspected serial killer Robert Zarinsky was charged with her murder in a Monmouth County courtroom. Prosecutors say new DNA tests tie Zarinsky to the 1968 crime.

Star-Ledger reporters Robin Gaby Fisher and Judith Lucas wrote a series of stories, titled Deadly Series, last year that brought renewed attention to Zarinsky and the disappearance of Durrua and other New Jersey girls.

Zarinsky, who is ill and already in jail for another murder, was wheeled into the courtroom today on a gurney, in chains.

Now ol' Zarinsky is about to go on trial for another crime and my tolerance of him has run out. He apparently has a health problem that forced him to be wheeled into a courtroom hooked to an oxygen tank that was helping him breathe. I think I have been watching too much lighting up on Mad Men on AMC because here is my opinion: I dont know what the indoor smoking laws are... but I think if the judge, prosecutors, or jury need a cigarette during the trial... they should get to have one right there in the courtroom. Unfortunately, the oxygen tank poses a risk to all our smokers.. but I think their comfort is more important... so I say anytime somebody needs a smoke... simply take the oxygen tank out of the room and force Mr. Zarinsky to just figure out a way to get some air. So what if he struggles a little bit...

They thought they had Zarinsky for shooting Rahway police officer Charles Bernoskie in 1958. Officer Bernoskie's death was still an open wound in Rahway when I moved there in 1990, a tragedy the police & the city were never going to forget. The case cracked in 1999 & they brought Zarinsky to trial in 2001, figuring on welding the prison doors shut on him. But after all those years, the prosecution's case had a little too much air in it. Bad news. Rahway police were certain they had their killer, & still are, so it's an open book but at least there was some emotional closure. The officer's widow won a civil suit against Zarinsky, then had to give the money back. It pissed everybody off. Zarinsky's prison hobby is studying law books. Reputedly, he's a good student. Bernoskie died in the line of duty, responding to the report of a burglary. That's the risk cops take every day. They carry guns. Bernoskie got to use his, & his aim, as it turned out, was true.

That left all the other unsolved murders. Defenseless young women.

Read the complete series on Zarinsky on the Deadly Secrets page. There is also a forum for readers to discuss the case.